• Original Language: English
  • Original Form and Meaning: gang 1) 'a band of persons acting or going about together, esp. a group of criminals'/ 2) 'a set of workers'


(Note: If the status is not specifically indicated then the word is stylistically neutral and generally used; if earlier meaning and status equals current use the former may be expressed by writing "dito". Cf. also the project guidelines.)


Language Form Date of Borrowing (and Obsolescence) Current Meaning and Status Earlier Meanings and Statusses Source
Catalan ... ... '...' '...' ...
Croatian gang [gaŋ], Masculine, Plural -ovi beg20c meaning: 'a band of persons acting or going about together, esp. a group of criminals', status: not (or no longer) recognized as English dito Manfred Görlach (2001): A Dictionary of European Anglicisms, Oxford:OUP.
Czech ... ... '...' '...' ...
Danish ... ... '...' '...' ...
Dutch gang [=English], common noun 1940s meaning: 'a band of persons acting or going about together, esp. a group of criminals', status: fully accepted but still marked as English, colloquial dito Manfred Görlach (2001): A Dictionary of European Anglicisms, Oxford:OUP.
English gang 1) 'a band of persons acting or going about together, esp. a group of criminals'/ 2) 'a set of workers' 'set of articles of one kind' (14c), 'band of persons' (16c) Manfred Görlach (2001): A Dictionary of European Anglicisms, Oxford: OUP.; Hoad, T.F. (ed.) (1986): The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon.
Estonian ... ... '...' '...' ...
Finnish a) jengi [like spelling suggests], via Swedish; b) gängi [like spelling suggests] 20c a) meaning: 'a band of persons acting or going about together, esp. a group of criminals', status: fully accepted but still marked as English; b) meaning: dito, status: restricted use: youth dito Manfred Görlach (2001): A Dictionary of European Anglicisms, Oxford:OUP.
French gang [gãg], Masculine 19c meaning: 'a band of persons acting or going about together, esp. a group of criminals', status: fully accepted but still marked as English dito Manfred Görlach (2001): A Dictionary of European Anglicisms, Oxford:OUP.
Frisian ... ... '...' '...' ...
German gang [geŋ], Feminine, Plural -s 1950s meaning: 'a band of persons acting or going about together, esp. a group of criminals', status: restricted use: colloquial, less frequent than Bande dito Manfred Görlach (2001): A Dictionary of European Anglicisms, Oxford:OUP.
Hungarian gang [=English], Plural Ø 20c meaning: 'a band of persons acting or going about together, esp. a group of criminals', status: restricted use: journalese, rare dito Manfred Görlach (2001): A Dictionary of European Anglicisms, Oxford:OUP.
Irish ... ... '...' '...' ...
Italian gang [gεŋg], Feminine, Plural Ø 1940s meaning: 'a band of persons acting or going about together, esp. a group of criminals', status: fully accepted but still marked as English, less frequent than banda dito Manfred Görlach (2001): A Dictionary of European Anglicisms, Oxford:OUP.
Latvian ... ... '...' '...' ...
Lithuanian ... ... '...' '...' ...
Maltese ... ... '...' '...' ...
Norwegian gjeng [jeŋ], Masculine, Plural -er beg20c meaning: 1) 'a band of persons acting or going about together, esp. a group of criminals'/ 2) 'a set of workers', status: not (or no longer) recognized as English dito Manfred Görlach (2001): A Dictionary of European Anglicisms, Oxford:OUP.
Polish gang [gank], Masculine beg20c meaning: 'a band of persons acting or going about together, esp. a group of criminals', status: not (or no longer) recognized as English dito Manfred Görlach (2001): A Dictionary of European Anglicisms, Oxford:OUP.
Portuguese ... ... '...' '...' ...
Rumantsch ... ... '...' '...' ...
Slovak ... ... '...' '...' ...
Slovenian ... ... '...' '...' ...
Spanish gang [gang], Masculine, Plural -s 1970s meaning: 'a band of persons acting or going about together, esp. a group of criminals', status: restricted use: only in specialist vocabulary dito Manfred Görlach (2001): A Dictionary of European Anglicisms, Oxford:OUP.
Swedish ... ... '...' '...' ...

Annotations edit

gang competes with band (EuroLex) (~ German Bande) and the respective equivalents in most of the other languages, which are usually much more common, so its distribution is more limited than the universally used ''gangter'' (which is semantically differentiated from and slightly more common than bandit) (source: Manfred Görlach (2001): A Dictionary of European Anglicisms, Oxford: OUP.)

Information on Other Languages edit

  • Icelandic: a) gang [=English], meaning: 'a band of persons acting or going about together, esp. a group of criminals', status: restricted use: slang; b) gengi [ceiлci], Neuter, Plural Ø, 1960s, meaning (1): 'a band of persons acting or going about together, esp. a group of criminals', status: semantical loan only (word is identical or nearly identical with an native one): restricted to slang, meaning (2): 'a set of workers', status: semantical loan only (word is identical or nearly identical with an native one): techn., colloquial.
  • Romanian: gang [=English], Neuter, 1970s, meaning: 'a band of persons acting or going about together, esp. a group of criminals', status: the word is known, but as a foreignism, less frequent than bandă
  • Russian: gang [like spelling suggests], Masculine, Plural -i, end20c, meaning: 'a band of persons acting or going about together, esp. a group of criminals', status: ?, less frequent than banda --
  • Bulgarian: word is not known: banda is used instead --
  • Albanian: gangë ['gangë], Feminine, Plural Ø, mid20c, meaning (1): 'a band of persons acting or going about together, esp. a group of criminals', status: fully accepted but still marked as English; meaning (2): 'a set of workers', status: restricted use (regional) -- (Source: Manfred Görlach (2001): A Dictionary of European Anglicisms, Oxford:OUP.)